Definitions

Categories are large substantive categories of data. Each indicator can be placed into a large category based on its relevance to economic development.

Variables or subcategories are smaller divisions of data that are relevant and intuitive. Employment is a subcategory, for example, within the Labor category. Other data sources lend themselves to have subcategories such as demographics that are organized by characteristics like race, ethnicity, gender, or age. This information is designed to help the data further narrow down their selection and to aid in their search.

An indicator’s Description is a brief description of the indicator that sets it apart from the variable. This, along with the other information in the meta-data should give enough detail about the indicator.

A Source Name is a name that the data sources assigns the data. Often this is a piece of code that academic researchers may find critical when handling large amounts of data. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics, for example, names each and every indicator with a code, making it fairly simple to locate them on their website. Other data sources do not do this. In cases where this source name is unclear or unavailable, the description or NA is placed in its stead.

Source is the name of the data source. When this clicked the source information will appear. The information about the source includes some more explanatory information that will help the data user locate the data they are looking for if the data is not housed within the clearinghouse. If this still does not help, please contact us.

Hyperlink is a hyperlink to the data itself. Many times this goes directly to the data but other times the link is as close as possible to get the data. If assistance is needed in locating the data, please consult the source information or send an email to the clearinghouse staff.

Seasonal adjustment is not relevant to many data, including all annual data, but many data sources provide data in seasonally adjusted format or unadjusted format. You can notice the difference in employment, for example, that is unadjusted or adjusted below. If both forms of the data are available then they are included as separate indicators. The letter “U” means unadjusted and “S” means adjusted. If NA appears here it is because it is either annual data or seasonal adjustment is not performed by the data source.

Format is the format in which the data is released. This can be “annually,” as is most common, or “quarterly,” “monthly,” or “weekly.” In some cases data is released in daily format or biennially. The data source can usually provide methodology information as to exactly how this data is calculated and what the appropriate methods are for changing the format, for example from quarterly to annually.

Time Period is the year in which the data is earliest available. This does not indicate that the data is only available for that year but that it has been collected since that year.

Updated explains how often data is released by the data source. If this was unclear or suspected to be irregular the word “varies” appears. Most data sources publish annually and provide update information to the clearinghouse via email.

Geography is the geographic unit for which the data is applied. More information about the unit is available when the name of the unit is clicked on. These can be any number of counties, metro areas, cities, or even zip code. The data source provides this information and should be consulted when interpreting these areas. Counties, for example, can be aggregated to metro area, but many geographic units are specific to the data source. For example, congressional districts cannot be aggregated from city or county level data.

Data Viewable is the indication that allows users to know that the clearinghouse is actually tracking the data and making a chart and a table available within the clearinghouse. Many data are available online, and most of it is economic data. As demand for a particular indicator is made known the clearinghouse will make efforts to add to its availability online. This data should be credited to the clearinghouse, the Moore School of Business Division of Research, and the data source itself. Please note that the clearinghouse is not the actual source of the information but only the compiler and presenter. Professionals at the Moore School of Business Division of Research prepare these data diligently and regularly.